500-year-old freeze-dried potato snacks discovered in Inca storage room in Peru
Two lumps of potato discovered in a roughly 500-year-old Inca storage room in Peru are a rare find: freeze-dried potatoes predating the Spanish invasion, a
Category: Science
66 billion trees have been planted in China’s Great Green Wall — and they appear to be growing faster than natural forests
Trees in China that were planted as part of huge reforestation projects appear to grow faster than those in natural forests, a new study finds.
Scientists figured out how to shrink huge ultrafast lasers so they fit on a tiny chip — the ‘holy grail’ of the field
A breakthrough in photonic chips could make large, costly, ultrafast lasers dramatically smaller, leading to portable and affordable imaging, diagnostic and information-processing devices, researchers say.
This microbe turns into a cannibalistic ‘Hulk’
Euplotes gigatrox’s shape-shifting may reveal how early life learned to act in surprisingly complex ways.
Crabs can’t hide from an octopus with a mirror
New experiments show that octopuses can understand where an item is based solely on its reflection.
Shadowy tendrils of ancient lava have scarred a dark volcano next to a ‘skull’ in the Sahara — Earth from space
QUICK FACTS Where is it? Toussidé volcano, Chad [21.03731548, 16.47357325] What’s in the photo? The petrified remains of ancient lava and a skull-like caldera Who
Chinese supercomputer leapfrogs best US machines to be ranked world’s fastest
A Chinese system has become the world’s most powerful supercomputer, surpassing American machines for the first time since 2021. LineShine, installed at China’s National Supercomputing
A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting
Renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder painted a bat eating a bird — 400 years before scientists would document the behavior.
Acetaminophen in pregnancy shows no link to autism or ADHD, again
Reassuring evidence on acetaminophen’s safety in pregnancy keeps growing, with another study that compares siblings with different prenatal exposures.
2,000-year-old scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius eruption finally deciphered with help from AI
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius buried a vast collection of scrolls in ash and scorched them into solid black lumps. Now, without unrolling them
NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Preps for Spacewalk
Flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) assists flight engineer Chris Williams of NASA as he tries on his spacesuit, testing its comfort
What Breaks a Cell’s Ribs Can Make It Stronger
The cells of animals, plants, and fungi start their lives by being torn apart. Cells are born by division, and just before a parent cell
CERN shutters the Large Hadron Collider for a major transformation
The High-Luminosity LHC, planned to switch on in 2030, could help physicists unravel mysteries about the Higgs boson, dark matter and more.
A whopping 14 million species of insects — or more — may roam Earth
New calculations suggest that the insect species inhabiting our planet may be double or triple previous estimates.